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Up soon for President-elect Joe Biden: naming his top health care officials as the coronavirus pandemic rages. It’s hard to imagine more consequential picks. Already one prominent candidate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has faded from the scene. New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was offered another Cabinet post — interior secretary — and turned it down, a person close to the Biden transition said Wednesday. That person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Lujan Grisham’s office had no comment. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/3)

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is now a top contender to be President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, according to two people close to the transition. Raimondo’s rise comes as New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is no longer favored for the role, according to one of those sources and another familiar with the discussions. (Ollstein, Cancryn and Pager, 12/2)

The Rhode Island political world is holding its collective breath, waiting to see if its leader, Governor Gina M. Raimondo, will join President-elect Joe Biden’s administration as the head of the Department for Health and Human Services. Politico and NBC News described Raimondo as a top contender for the Cabinet post on Wednesday, setting off a swirl of speculation about whether the term-limited Democrat will be offered the job and, if so, whether she will take it. (Fitzpatrick, 12/2)

As President-elect Joe Biden makes fighting the raging coronavirus his most-urgent mission when he takes office next month, two figures already playing central roles in his transition are emerging as the most likely possibilities to preside over the new White House’s pandemic response. One contender for Biden’s coronavirus coordinator, envisioned as a powerful role in setting the agenda and orchestrating the work of federal agencies, is Jeff Zients, a co-chairman of the Biden transition team who led the Obama administration’s National Economic Council. Another is Vivek H. Murthy, a co-chair of the transition’s covid-19 advisory board and a former U.S. Surgeon General. (Goldstein and Olorunnipa, 12/2)

The last throes of Donald Trump’s presidency have turned ugly — even dangerous. Death threats are on the rise. Local and state election officials are being hounded into hiding. A Trump campaign lawyer is declaring publicly that a federal official who defended the integrity of the election should be “drawn and quartered” or simply shot. Neutral public servants, Democrats and a growing number of Republicans who won’t do what Trump wants are being caught in a menacing postelection undertow stirred by Trump’s grievances about the election he lost. (Long and Woodward, 12/3)

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday admonished Democratic leaders who have sparked controversy after being seen in public despite health restrictions several of them implemented or supported in response to the coronavirus pandemic. "Behind me you will see images of Democrat hypocrisy playing on loop," McEnany told reporters during a press briefing. (Mastrangelo, 12/2)

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday falsely attributed the genesis of the towering red ribbon displayed in front of the White House in honor of World AIDS Day to the Trump administration. ... “The president honored World AIDS Day yesterday in a way that no president has before, with the red ribbon there, and I think he commemorated the day as he should have,” McEnany told reporters during a press briefing. The ribbon was first hung in 2007 under former President George W. Bush and has become an annual feature in the years since, including under both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The idea was the brainchild of Steven Levine, a member of the Bush communications shop, who is gay. (Niedzwiadek, 12/2)

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s husband, Sean Gilmartin, appeared without a mask in the White House briefing room on Wednesday and declined to cover his face after being asked to do so by a journalist. The interaction between Gilmartin and the White House press corps came after McEnany, who generally does not wear a mask at the briefing room podium, conducted a 24-minute news conference. (Forgey, 12/2)